The Daughters of Ireland

I stumbled upon The Daughters of Ireland (#836) in my pile of "To Read" books after I picked up Santa Montefiore's The Secret of the Irish Castle (See my post of 7/4/19.) at the library.  I realized that it was the third book in a trilogy, so I dug out The Daughters.  Since virtually all of the action of the first book, The Girl in the Castle is rehashed here, I see no reason to go back and read more of the same.

In the first twenty-three pages we have murder, infidelity, rape, arson, illegitimate children, terrorism and a haunted Irish castle complete with a curse on the Deverill family.  The action in these books swirls around Kitty Deverill, her cousin Celia Deverill, and the castle cook's daughter, Bridie Doyle, in a real potboiler.  It's now the 1920s and the War for Independence and The Troubles in Ireland are receding into the past.  Not so the aftermath of incidents that took place during those times, the subject of the first book, The Girl in the Castle.  The gaiety of the Roaring 20s leads up to the Wall Street Crash in America, where Bridie Doyle is living as a wealthy widow.  Fortunes are also lost in London, destroying Celia's life, while back in Ireland, Kitty Deverill and her family lose possession of Deverill Castle.  It seems the principal sin in Ballinkelly is being poor.

Honestly, can't anyone in this story keep it in their pants?  I can't believe I read all the way through this story, moreover continuing on to The Secret of the Irish Castle!

One thing I do have to comment on, though, is the cover art of this book.  From the back photograph of a redheaded woman in mutton-sleeved blouse and full length red skirt billowing as she runs, one would assume that this historical fiction is set in the nineteenth century.  What a surprise to find the cover model should have appeared in a cloche and flapper garb!  Not a fan of deceptive advertising.